"We sometimes congratulate ourselves at the moment of waking from a troubled dream; it may be so the moment after death"

This quote by Nathaniel Hawthorne speaks to the idea of death being a type of awakening. He suggests that when we wake from a struggling dream, we may feel a sense of relief and congratulate ourselves. In the very same method, he suggests that when we pass away, we might experience a similar moment of relief and congratulate ourselves for having made it through life. This quote talks to the concept that death is not something to be feared, but rather something to be embraced as a type of liberation from the difficulties of life. It is a suggestion that death is a natural part of life and that it ought to be accepted as such. Ultimately, Hawthorne's quote motivates us to discover peace in the concept of death and to accept it as a part of life's journey.